BMW-Sauber: 2010 driver, team and car guide, analysis and statistics

How will BMW-Sauber perform in the 2010 Formula One season with drivers Pedro
de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi?

New look: Kamui Kobayashi (left) and Pedro de la Rosa will drive for Peter Sauber this seasonPhoto: PA

By Tom Cary, F1 Correspondent

7:09PM GMT 09 Mar 2010

Officially still known as BMW-Sauber, the Switzerland-based team began 2010 once again on its own; the four-year partnership with BMW having come to an end in 2009. Peter Sauber founded his company in the 1970s, going through hillclimbing to sportscars before finally entering F1 in 1993.

Their best finish as in independent was fourth in the 2001 world championship. Sauber sold the team to BMW in 2005 and for a while the partnership flourished. In 2008 the team scored its maiden victory with Robert Kubica in Canada, but instead of pushing on from there, the team went backwards and the 2009 car was a dud despite the team having invested huge amounts on the doomed KERS technology.

With BMW’s losses mounting as a result of the global economic crisis, the parent company decided to pull the plug midway through 2009. A deal was reached to sell the team back to Sauber, but due to issues with the Concorde Agreement they had to retain the name BMW-Sauber.

Telegraph verdict:

Surprisingly quick in pre-season testing, Sauber could make a few podiums if it all comes together. A lack of money is likely to haunt them however.

Related Articles

De la Rosa spent six years as a test driver for McLaren after brief stints with Arrows and Jaguar in the late 1990s/early 2000s. A safe pair of hands, as well as chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, the 39-year-old Spaniard is not expected to raise the roof at Sauber.

Kamui Kobayashi Born: 13/09/1986 Amagasaki, Japan

In many respects, Kobayashi is the exact opposite of de la Rosa: raw, inexperienced and very quick. The 23-year-old won the GP2 Asia series in 2009 although he only achieved modest results in the main series. As test and reserve driver for Toyota, Kobayashi got his F1 chance thanks to Timo Glock’s injury in Japan, coming 10th in Brazil (where Jenson Button referred to him as “absolutely crazy”) and an impressive sixth in Abu Dhabi. Sauber was impressed enough to offer him a deal.